How many i-130 visa petition applications can I submit at once? 4 Answers as of January 27, 2011

I am a US Citizen. I have my mother and 4 siblings living in my home country. I would like to submit an I-130 for all 4 of my siblings. At this moment I do not make enough money to financially sponsor all of them. I have 2 siblings who have their in-laws in the USA and can submit -486 for them (co or joint with me). My question is - can I submit i-130s for all 4 of my siblings at once? Will any of those petitions be denied because of financial reason? Thanks.

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You can submit as many as you want. The question of financial sponsorship isn't going to come up until their priority dates are current and the visas are available. The petition is not dependent on finances, it is only dependent on your status and your relationships to your siblings so of course, they will be approved.

You can submit petitions for all of them at once. The Affidavit of Support (Form I-864) is not filed until they are ready to apply for their immigrant visas when the priority dates are current. In their category, brothers/sisters of US Citizen, the priority date will not be current for 10 to 18 years.

Yes, you can file I-130. And you are right, if you don't make enough money to support all 4 of them and you can't find a co-sponsor, your petition will be denied at the end. You need plan accordingly. Good luck!

You can file as many I-130s as you like at the same time. It will take about 6 months for your mother's petition to be approved, and it will take longer for the I-130 for your brother. Because your mother is an immediate relative, the consular processing for her may begin shortly after the I-130 is approved. Then you will submit the affidavit of support for your mother. It will take much longer before you have to submit any I-864 for your siblings...something like 10 to 23 years depending on the country of birth. So you do not have to worry about having to file any i-864 for everybody.

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